“Doing good holds the power to transform us on the inside, and then ripple out in ever-expanding circles that positively impact the world at large.”
—Shari Arison
 

n my experience, generosity becomes a way of seeing and interacting with the world when the illusion of separation has vanished. As fear drops away, authenticity fills the space and becomes our governing spirit.

No me. No you. Just one.

“Harm” affects everything and ripples just as “benefit” affects everything and ripples.

Children are children. Not my children or your children. Just children.

Everything.

The world becomes quite precious from this perspective.

Even the way we treat an inanimate object like a box or a stamp on a letter becomes a mirror for how we view ourselves and the world.

The Karma bead in my rosary states: “I am born of Karma, I am heir to Karma, I abide in Karma, and I am supported by Karma. Whatever I do creates Karma, and I shall surely experience this Karma. The merit of all good acts I do freely offer to all sentient beings.”

What I love about this recitation is that in speaking it out loud I am acknowledging interconnectedness (or better, ONENESS. Interconnected still suggests separation). Everything I think, say, and do is inescapable and, likewise, is forever being created and made anew. Which is why I love the last part of the Karma bead’s assertion, “The merit of all good acts I do freely offer to all sentient beings.” To me, this means that if I’m going to make my bed and lie in it – I might as well vow to make a darn good bed!

Doing good and living a harmless life seem to make a lot more sense when seen through these lenses.

And we do see this generosity in glimpses out in the world. Generosity is in those touching videos that go viral. You know the ones. They usually have a person or an animal doing something for the sake of another. Our hearts open and we say, “Gosh. I wish there were more of this out in the world. The world would be a much better place if we all acted like this.”

We nod and understand. Yet when push comes to shove, it can be so challenging to access this ONENESS. For one thing, since we were children, the illusion of separation has been following us like a shadow that will never leave. We’ve been trained to experience fear, loss, lack, and deprivation. Without the conditioned tape loop running in our heads to remind us that “the world is the way it is,” we’d suddenly see it the way it truly is.

In my experience, the entrance to generosity begins with meditation. A time to see through the delusion that creates the separation. A time to train the attention to come back to NOW. A time to sit in silence and simply BE.

Meditation opens your life. It’s the first crack in the door to let the light in. When the light comes in, it becomes easier to see what’s what. And when that happens, you see that it shines on all of us equally. We’re all in this together.